That Summer
by bagnome
Summary: After celebrating his anniversary with his wife, Nick is reminded of a lover from his past. Story inspired by the Garth Brooks song, "That Summer." One-Shot.


Most of Zootopia's residents were home for the evening as the moon cast its illuminating rays upon the city. Most of its people were fast asleep, cozy in their homes as they escape the low-pressure system introduced the first crisp autumn breeze of the year to the city. Leaves were swept off the street, large signs and cable suspended traffic signals swayed graciously, and huge patriotic flags waved proudly atop the spires of skyscrapers.

Instead of a peaceful slumber, one couple, in particular, had just finished with the grand finale to their celebration of this important day. Today, or now yesterday marks five years since they echoed those two little words to each other and opened a new chapter in their relationship and shared lives.

Nick, nearly out of breath, had beads of sweat forming on his eyebrows. He takes a moment to gaze down at the bunny beneath him, letting the curves of her body reinforce the already ingrained image of her in his memory. He leans his head down to give her a quick kiss before rolling over onto his back. With one arm, he pulled the duvet over their bodies as the other was taken by Judy as she pulls it around her shoulders as she snuggles up to his side.

What was once filled with sounds of passion, love, and ecstasy only moments prior, the room was now engulfed in silence, save for the heavy breathing of an exhausted fox and the sound of the wind rapped and moaned against the window panes?

"God Fluff, it's been five years, and I still find it a miracle that I can keep up with you," Nick said as he heaved between words.

She nuzzled herself deeper into his side before she responded. "Yeah, I was surprised how well you did during our first time." She smiled at the very fond memory. While that first night was awkward in its early goings, that first chance they had to really explore each other's bodies proved to be an experience they will cherish for years to come.

"Well, I knew a few tricks to preserve my energy and keep me in the game."

"And you're going to tell me how you know these tricks, Slick." She said as she gave his side a kiss and reached her arm up onto his chest as she began to caress it gently.

"Eventually, Carrots, but not right now. I'm about to pass out." Nick replied.

Talking about past relationships was not something that Nick was particularly fond of. Yes, Judy knew he had a few. She was even the shoulder he cried on when his relationship with the last girlfriend before Judy ended abruptly. It was not something he really wanted to relive, so until his wife decides it is time to pry them out, then in they stay.

He turned his head to his mate to find that she was already fast asleep. The moonlight that seeped through the curtains outlined her form. He could feel the very subtle snores emanating from where her head is buried in his side. With the arm that was supporting her head, he brought his hand in and started scratching the side of her cheek.

He soon found himself looking up at the ceiling. Watching the blades of the ceiling fan revolve slowly as its skewed shadow followed suit behind it.

 _Those first learned tricks_ , he thought as began to relive the memories of one of the most memorable summers of his youth. He had to lie low for a bit until things cooled down after a scam that went horribly wrong. So he chose to skip town for a few months.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky, and not a cloud could be seen for miles. A thin strip of asphalt laid graciously atop the hilly landscape, parting a sea of wheat fields that stretched out to the horizon in all directions.

A large truck crested a hill as it barreled down the narrow two-lane highway. It soon eased itself to a stop at a crossroads where a young Nick Wilde jumped down from its passenger side door. He then turned around to catch his backpack as the driver through it down to him.

"Thanks for the lift," Nick said, looking up at the gray-haired warthog. He looked very much the part of a stereotypical trucker with his denim jeans, boots, raggedy old baseball cap, and a flannel button up shirt.

"No problem, Mac." He replied, then pointed to the road behind the fox. "Take that road right there, and you'll come across a town in 'bout five miles."

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

With that, the trucker pulled the passenger door shut and put the truck back in gear. Nick watched as the truck crested another hill and disappeared behind him. Once the truck was gone, he picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, then proceeded to walk in the direction the warthog pointed.

 _I guess they don't call it the Bread Basket for nothing._ He thought as he observed all the wheat around him.

Nick figured he was going to be in this town for some time. He had been on the road for a week and found that it was taking a bigger toll on his funds than he had originally anticipated. So he would have to find work around this town if he wished to continue traveling, and, hopefully, make it back to Zootopia

He would have to keep his eye out for odd jobs, as hiring on to some hourly wage job would prove to be difficult if not impossible. Considering he would have to go through the job application process which would involve an interview and reference contacts. He also did not have a cell phone that they could contact him with, let alone a permanent address.

As Nick was pondering over this conundrum, he spied a large white sign with red marker written on it.

 _SUMMER HELP WANTED,_ it read.

After taking a short second of contemplation, he reached his decision.

"Well, I guess this is as good of a place as any to start." He said aloud to no one in particular.

The gate to the farm's entrance was unlocked and ajar, so he took it as an invitation. He walked up the dirt driveway to the homestead that sat on the highest point on the property.

In the center of the property was the house. It appeared to be almost as old as the farm itself. To one side were a small barn and a couple of silos, all looked to be equally as old, and to the other side was an old windmill that once pumped water out of the aquifer down below. It appeared to have long been standing idle for years as an electrically powered pump hummed adjacent to it. Lastly, behind the house was a large white tank that stored natural gas, which was used to power the house's various utilities.

Nick rapped his knuckles on the front door through the screen door. "Hello?" He called out. "I'm here about the job."

Moments later, the door opened, and through the screen, the fox saw a female bunny who looked to be middle aged.

Height-wise, she did not quite come up to his chest. Her face showed forming wrinkles, piece of wheat sticking out of her mouth, and the color of her fur was faded.

She wore boots, jeans, an old jean jacket, and had a firearm openly holstered on her belt. She definitely looked like she did the most of the work on this farm and her rough looking callus hands proved that.

She opened the screen door and took a step out onto the porch. After she did, she looked him up and down before returning her eyes to his.

"I don't think I've seen you 'round here before, stranger." She said with a draw. "Where you from?"

"Zootopia, ma'am."

"Well, what's a city boy such as yourself doing out here? We're a long ways away from there. And you can't be any older than twenty, twenty-one, by the looks of you." She said with a questioning look.

"The city was starting to get to me," he started, not wanting to reveal the full reason why he had left, "so I decided to save up some money and travel around aimlessly." That last past was definitely true. Growing up in Zootopia, he had not once left the city. With everything he needed provided for him there, he did not need to. Consequently, he had no place to go once he did leave. It was an adventure into the unknown for him and he was both excited and terrified, not that he would show it. "Though right now I need more money if I want to keep moving. And to answer your second question, nineteen, ma'am."

Nick stood there beginning to feel nervous while she looked at him with contemplation.

She hummed to herself before speaking, "So I assume you'll also need a place to stay as well?"

Nick did not say anything. Instead, he kept his gaze averted from hers and scratched the back of his head.

"I guess I can set up a cot for you in one of the spare rooms. In the meantime, you can start hauling those cement bags into the barn," She pointed to a dozen bags of cement next to a pickup truck. "It's lookin' to rain tomorrow and I can't have that cement out in the elements."

Nick turned around and began to make his way to the pile of cement before her voice caught his attention one last time. "And if I catch you stealin' anything out of my home, a lead slug is the last thing you'll ever take with you out that front door. You understand?"

Nick nodded his head with haste.

"Good, now get that cement squared away, and before you come inside, take down that sign I have posted on my gate. From there, I'll explain what I expect from you" With that, she disappeared into the house.

* * *

Through his first weeks on the farm, he found himself doing mostly heavy lifting. The bunny seemed to be fiercely independent and preferred to tend to her fields by herself. Though her body was showing signs of age, and heavy lifting was just something she could not regularly do anymore. Other times he was playing a minor role in aiding her in her tasks and routines. Mainly when a task required more than one person to complete.

One evening, after dinner, Nick was reclining in the cot that she erected. The room already had a bed, but it was too small for him to sleep on comfortably. A nightstand rested next to it, with a lamp on top that was currently lighting the room with its soft yellow glow. There was not much else in the room. Across the room from the bed was an empty desk with a row of books above it.

When he was not working, he secluded himself to the room where he would be reading one of them if he was not sleeping. It was the only thing he could do to kill time and keep boredom at bay.

He was heavily invested in a book right then with the middle-aged doe knocked on the door.

"Come in," Nick responded.

The smell of coffee filled the room as she entered with a cup in her hand. She sipped on it gently.

That was not the only thing he noticed about her. She was wearing a dress. In all his time he had been on the farm, this had been the first time he had seen her in anything other than work clothes.

She moved with more grace than usual as she stepped over to the unoccupied bed next to his cot.

She took another sip of her coffee as she stared at him. There was a softness in her eyes that he does not remember seeing before.

"Is there something you need my help with?" He asked cautiously.

"Not at the moment, no. I just thought I'd see what you were up to."

She also had a tone in her voice that was different to the way she would normally talk.

"Well, I was just reading one of the books you had over on that shelf. Not much else one can do I suppose." He said with a light chuckle, looking back down at the book in his hands.

She did not say anything after that. Instead, she continued to sip on her coffee.

"Can I ask you something?" He broke the silence.

She replied with a nod, sitting the mug in her lap.

"When I first came walking up, I was trying to figure out where to stay since I didn't have a bed to sleep on. At the very least, I was hoping you would let me stay in your barn. But on day one, you, a bunny, let a fox into your home. It's clear the fox thing doesn't bother you, but a complete stranger? I'm at a loss."

"Firstly," she began, "out here, we can trust those in our community a little better than you can in your city. Secondly, you remind me of my late husband. He passed on some six odd years ago, but when I saw you on my doorstep, I could immediately see a lot of him in you.

"He was a red fox, just like you. He was hired as a farm hand by my father to help him with the wheat. My mother had trouble with getting pregnant, so my family remained very small. Only five of us were ever conceived. Luckily wheat doesn't take 'lot of labor when you have the tractors to help tend the fields.

"Anyway, it wasn't long before we met. We were both sixteen at the time. Spent a lot of time working with each other. As a result, we grow close and eventually fell head over heels for each other.

"When we both turned eighteen, we ran off and lived in the city, and got hitched. Though with the way things were at the time, we kept our relationship a secret the best we could, but it took a toll on our moral.

Eventually, my parents passed away and thankfully they left the farm to me of all my siblings. So we moved back out here where we could feel more comfortable with our privacy. Been here ever since.

"Though because of our relationship, we could never have children. So I have no one to pass the farm onto."

Nick sat there in silence, digesting all this information. He nearly missed it when he felt her put her hand on his arm. It looked deceptively rough but felt like silk to the touch.

"You know it been forever since I've had a tod in my house." She said as she began to stroke the fur on his arm. "I've nearly forgot what if felt like to touch one, what that musky smell of one smells like smells like."

She looked into his eyes as she slowly leaned forward to place a kiss on his lips. When she pulled away, his mouth was left slightly ajar, and he was left speechless. He just sat there watching her.

"And what one tastes like." She finished in a sultry tone.

That is when it hit him. The softness in her eyes, the tone of her voice. It was lust. It was something, even a young male as inexperienced as him could recognize.

Soon, he found her climbing up into the cot and wrapping her arms around him.

"It's been too long since I've held another like this." She says as she plants another kiss onto his lips. This time he returned it.

As they kissed, the kissing became more heated, and he began to understand where this was leading.

"I've never done something like this before." He admitted.

She cupped his cheek in her hand. "That's alright. Just follow my lead." She said softly.

The night ran on into an abyss of passion.

* * *

Nick woke up to the ring of an alarm clock. It took a moment for him to gather his bearings. He was in his bed, in his one-bedroom apartment in Zootopia, with the most amazing wife stirring next to him. Moments later, she reached out and silenced the alarm.

"Morning, Carrots." Nick greeted.

She rolled over, her amethyst eyes met his gaze. She wore nothing but a groggy smile. "Hey, Nick." She greeted back. "Guess we forgot to turn off the alarm, huh?" She laughed.

They took both yesterday and today off from work since they knew what the activities of the night of their anniversary would entail.

He pulled her back into his arms and gently kissed her forehead. They laid there for a while longer. Dozing until the sun was up high in the sky.

Eventually, they both got out of bed. She slowly made her way to the bathroom, while he told her that he would start breakfast.

He soon put on a robe to ward away the cold of the morning and made his way out to the kitchen. As he did so, the memories that replayed in his dreams were still fresh on his mind.

Until he met Judy, he had not met another woman quite like that doe from his past. In most of the relationships he had engaged in, he had seen her face in those women at some point or another. Though not Judy.

He found that ironic since Judy's personality had a striking resemblance to that widowed doe who was hell bent on making it on her own. That free, independent spirit of hers.

Maybe that is why he found himself so attracted to Judy.

He then heard the shower shut off. Soon, Judy would be out of the bathroom, and soon he would be inevitably talking to her about that summer. But for now, he would just settle on basking in her beauty as she walked out of the bathroom in a robe and made her way to eat breakfast with him.

* * *

 **If you enjoyed this story, please take a moment to glance at my other Zootopia stories. They are all in the same respective timeline, but they can all be read as stand-alone, and they are all based on one country song or another.**


End file.
